When it comes to training and onboarding, depending on where you are in your real estate career, you might be wondering, “How are these ideas different from my current working systems?” “How can this help me?” or even “Why should I do this when I could be learning all this in the field?” You might even think that it defies logic to expect someone to acquire decades of real estate knowledge in just a few weeks. These are all valid concerns and opinions.
In a decision to defy the odds and take a chance, these women, each at a different place in their career, experienced for themselves how an onboarding process with systems, tools and consulting can produce powerful results.
Kathy Talbot
Kathy Talbot, a sales representative at Dan Gemus Real Estate Team in Windsor, Ont. already had systems in place and over 20 years of experience. The biggest tool that helped her stop using her time ineffectively and start having balance was scripting.
“It teaches you the right questions so you’re not spinning your wheels and wasting your or your client’s time. That was the No. 1 thing, the right questions. And I couldn’t believe that I didn’t know the right questions!”
Talbot found that weekly coaching also helped shift her career to where she wanted it to go. Like most people, she found herself saying that she didn’t want to do it. She had so many other tasks that she felt took priority in her career, but she always went. The coaching taught her something new every time. It has helped her become more focused and efficient in the way that she operates. Now, she helps 90 to 100 families buy or sell each year, with a focus on joy and balance in her life.
Since Talbot’s team made this investment, everyone has been on the same page. Everyone’s happy and Talbot says that now she has taken the time to step back, she doesn’t think she can return to the way she worked before.
Kassy Baggio
Kassy Baggio, also a sales representative at the Dan Gemus Real Estate Team, was already super busy as a new agent while also going through the onboarding process. She had a supportive team to help her while her career was being launched. With the highest average number of sales per agent in the area, Baggio had a team of successful agents to model and learn from.
She also used scripting to help her feel more level and grounded. “Having these great tools gives me a lot of confidence to go into anything. It starts when you read it, you think you’re learning but you’re actually just understanding it. And once you get to go at it a little more, you start really getting it. Until you start to confidently get it. Then you’re believing in it. And then you’re living it. I started saying the scripts in places like the shower and while brushing my teeth and then it all just started piecing together.”
In the few months since she’s been on her team, she has had 20 clients with listings, each of them under Buyer Representation Agreements, and she says it’s because of the scripting.
The advice she would give someone who’s going through the onboarding process is to be patient and give yourself time to get comfortable with it and understand it.
Vanessa Jeffery
Vanessa Jeffery, the founder of Re/Max Realtron The Property Shop in Toronto, was introduced to the onboarding process when she was a newly licensed agent.
“At first, the scripts sounded robotic. You’re reading and wondering ‘Why am I doing this?’ then eventually it becomes second nature. It becomes DNA, who you are and the language that you’re speaking.”
Jeffery wanted to be successful, but she didn’t want to recreate the wheel. She was skeptical at first like many people are when they’re not sure something is going to work, but when she saw the results others were getting with these systems, she embraced it. In six intense weeks, she was able to use these systems and have quick success without any leads from the team or opportunities during the training phase.
When she went for her first listing appointment, she went up against two top team leaders in the area. Both of them presented their listing presentation before her. Although they each had more experience than Jeffery, neither of them got the listing. With only six weeks of onboarding training, she got the listing and at six per cent.
Jeffery describes a little of what she learned with scripting: “Everything is a building block for the next stage. So from the first point of contact with a client, whether it’s on a phone or someone calling in or inquiring about a house, (it’s) just the conversation or the dialogue they might have. The intention behind it is to book an appointment to meet with them and to do a buyer’s consultation. That is one of the first steps we learn.”
She learned that the next step, which involves the conversation with the client, involves subtle ways of building trust. You want to convey confidence with them early on and exchange value throughout the presentation so when you ask for their commitment, there are no objections. Those presentations set the tone of your working relationship with them. After that, buyers always know what to expect, which simplifies the home-buying process.
Jeffrey’s mindset has always been that onboarding training is an internship and the firm foundation needed for her career. Those few weeks set her up for success her first year, where she hit over 66 deals and then proceeded to hit 77 deals in the following year.
It was such a joy to train these wonderful women and then watch as they received exceptional results. At different stages in their careers, they each experienced what an onboarding process can do for them to improve their business and personal life.
Kathleen Black is a globally recognized high-performance mindset & performance expert, bestselling author, and renowned transformational speaker. Her unique, holistic approach to empowered leadership and genius mindset training has guided iconic brands and high-net-worth professionals to add billions of additional dollars in sales volume annually.
Kathleen’s remarkable achievements have earned her numerous accolades, including the Iconic Leaders Creating a Better World for All Award. She is the two-time bestselling author of The Top 1% Life and Relentless to Rise.
